At Orlando airport, public money takes flight

July 30, 2013|Scott Maxwell, TAKING NAMES

A few months ago, Orlando International Airport was talking about spending more than $2 billion on massive expansion plans … until the Sentinel disclosed that much of the expansion wasn't needed and the airlines didn't even want it.

Suddenly, airport officials decided the expansion wasn't so urgent.

Now we hear the airport is talking about spending $140 million on a parking garage.

And once again, the Sentinel crunched the numbers and found that the costs were way out of line.

Specifically, reporters Dan Tracy and Sara Clarke decided to see if you could find ways to build cheaper. (What a novel idea.) And they didn't have to look far.

In fact, you could spot a much cheaper option from one of OIA's air-traffic control towers … at Walt Disney World.

While OIA talks about spending $140 million on a parking garage, Disney built an even bigger garage for $50 million.

That's right, for a third as much money, Disney built something bigger.

Maybe it doesn't surprise you that the folks at Disney are three times more efficient than the folks at the Orlando airport. But it was kind of depressing to learn that the airport officials in Memphis and Dallas are, too.

Oh, the Sentinel also found that many of the existing spaces often go unused.

None of this is rocket science. As much as I love my co-workers at the paper, none of us have the market cornered on brains.

What we do have, however, is a desire to make sure public money is spent wisely.

Unfortunately, to get on the airport board, you don't have to demonstrate interest in spending tax dollars wisely. Nor do you need any aviation experience — which virtually none of the board members have.

Instead, you need political connections. Many times, you must raise money for the governor, who appoints you. That's what several current members have done: host fundraisers for Gov. Rick Scott.

Then you get to hand out fat contracts to construction companies, consulting firms and lobbyists.

It's always been that way, to some degree, at the airport and other boards. But recently, things seem more … well … blatant.

Board members host $1,000-a-head fundraisers for Gov. Scott. One potential nominee said he was considered for a board seat — until he refused to donate another $10,000 to Scott's campaign.

Meanwhile, board members squashed proposals for stronger ethics laws and better transparency, while ignoring their own rules for lobbyists.

Airport officials insist everything is aboveboard — that they're watching public money (federal money, passenger fees and more) closely and that most of the estimates were merely preliminary.

"Our board will be vetting carefully at appropriate time in process," said Chairman Frank Kruppenbacher, who suggested final spending totals might have been lower, even without scrutiny from the newspaper.

You can judge that part for yourself — the number of times you've seen government spend less than originally planned. Or the wisdom of producing a public report that says you think a project should cost X amount of dollars — and then expecting bidders to offer prices way below that amount.

Listen, the Orlando airport is one of the region's first-class amenities. It's well-constructed and efficiently run. And growth is not only logical, it's needed.

But if current leaders want the public trust, they will beef up their ethics policies, focus less on politics and more on spending money as wisely as Disney … or at least Memphis.